Carriers, also known as adsorbents or bases, are primarily useful for adsorbing liquid ingredients. The ability for a carrier to adsorb larger weights of liquid thereon at least depends upon its bulk density and porosity. Specifically, lower bulk density and higher porosity are considered desired characteristics of a good carrier.
Depending upon the commercial application of the carrier, it may be active or inactive, and/or water soluble or water insoluble. Traditional adsorbent carriers typically hold less than 10-20% by weight of a liquid component if water soluble, or 50-60% by weight of a liquid component if insoluble in water. Examples of known liquid carriers include alkali metal carbonates, or silicates such as zeolites.
For commercial purposes, most viable effervescent compositions do not contain water insoluble or slowly soluble carriers such as silicates. Carriers such as carbonates with more than 5% of any given liquid-based surfactant, e.g., amphoterics, anionics, cationics or non-ionics, also are impractical in effervescent compositions. Namely, insolubility or increased dissolution time requires additional, expensive disintegrants. Moreover, such effervescent compositions increase manufacturing time and therefore are not practical in a scaled-up production setting. Further, increased amounts of liquid(s) significantly reduce shelf life stability of the final effervescent composition.
One carrier known to adsorb large amounts of liquids without the above-mentioned drawbacks is a perborate salt. Namely, perborate salts expand upon controlled heating, following hydration. Perborate salts are capable of adsorbing up to 50% of its weight in liquids. The perborate salt carrier can preserve product stability and effervescent water solubility. However, the use of borate containing compounds has gradually decreased over the past decade in view of stricter environmental legislations and green-technology initiatives proposed in the United States and abroad.
A need therefore exists in the art for a non-toxic compound including carrier capable of adsorbing a large amount of liquid while maintaining product stability and water solubility.
A need also exists in the art for a composition including non-toxic carriers that load liquids therein.
A need also exists in the art for a cleaning system including non-toxic carriers capable of adsorbing a significant amount of liquid.
A further need exists for a method of manufacturing a non-toxic carrier with a low bulk density and high porosity capable of adsorbing significant amounts of liquid.